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Top minor league baseball development managers will be assigned where they can do the most effective job of helping players advance to the highest possible level . . .
Is anybody else wondering why Dave Huppert was stuck with the no-talent, minimal prospect Lehigh Valley IronPigs after leading prospect-challenged low Class A Lakewood and high Class A Clearwater to Sally League and Florida State League pennants? After a poor first half of 2006, the Blue Claws rallied around hard-throwing starters Matt Maloney (since traded), Josh Outman (since demoted to the Reading bullpen) and Carlos Carrasco (having a so-so Double A season) to the second-half title and a march through the playoffs. Last season, an underwhelming Clearwater Threshers team was dead in the water at the halfway point; the Threshers rallied to win the second half and the playoffs.
There were raves in March from minor league staffers about Huppert's developmental skills. The same people also touted the "prospect-loaded" Reading Phillies as the minor league team to watch. Well, the R-Phils have had a wretched season, despite solid individual performances by currently injured outfield prospect Greg Golson and catcher of the future Lou Marson. The pitching, expected to be a strength, has been mediocre to awful. Manager P.J. Forbes' team had an Eastern League-worst 33-49 record after last night's win.
Huppert could be Merlin the Magician and the IronPigs would still be 20 games out of first place in their International League division. Why wasn't he given Reading's handful of legit prospects to manage?
"Pure organization politics," an insider told me. "Huppert's the new guy here. They weren't going to give a bad Triple A team to one of their own."
Huppert made his bones as a successful manager in the Brewers, White Sox, Marlins and Expos systems. He was manager Frank Robinson's third-base coach in the inaugural Washington Nationals season in 2005 and was hired by the Phillies in 2006. Trivia buffs might remember Huppert as the Rochester Red Wings catcher who caught 31 of 33 innings in 1981 against Pawtucket in the longest professional game ever played. Now, he's just trying to get T.J. Bohn above .200.
When I'm King of the World . . .
Former Phillies pitching coach Joe Kerrigan will be reminded that he was also Brett Myers' pitching coach in 2003-04 . . . Kerrigan was on Channel 10's Sunday night sports wrap and made an interesting observation on Myers' helter-skelter delivery.
Charlie Manuel's Opening Day starter is off to a minor league assignment tonight. Kerrigan observed that Brett's delivery has too many moving parts. The message was that the more components of throwing a baseball are going on at once, the more likely a pitcher will get totally out of whack.
I don't think there has been a dramatic change in Myers' delivery since his electric Wrigley Field debut in 2002. The big change has been in his results, thanks mainly to a fastball that has retreated from the 94-96 mph range to a current 88-91. Myers was 25-20 under Kerrigan with an ERA close to 5.00. Apparently, Joe had no more success in refining Brett's serve than has current coach Rich Dubee.
I subscribe to a Mitch Williams plan that advocates Myers relying more on his excellent two-seam, sinking, fastball and his still-withering 12-6 curveball.
When I'm King of the World . . .
The hundreds of readers, viewers, defenders of the First Amendment and some of my harshest critics who came to my defense during a short suspension from "Daily News Live'' by Comcast SportsNet will find a special thrill on Blueberry Hill. Thanks to one and all . . . As to the theory that the Phillies just haven't been the same since Manuel removed Jimmy Rollins from a game for failing to run out a pop fly that was misplayed, my answer is a little more disturbing. They haven't been the same since running into the level of American League pitchers who await should they somehow make it to a World Series.
Knowing there are probably seven AL teams better than the Fightin's - Red Sox, Rays, Angels, A's, Twins, White Sox and Yankees - is not nearly as depressing as the Caesars Palace sportsbook odds that list the Eagles at 18-1 in the Super Bowl pecking order. Please ignore it in case the Phillies go into the tank and we need midnight-green life rafts to get us to training camp. *
Send e-mail to bill1chair@aol.com.
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